By restricting the provision of planned services in medical institutions, planned patients may become urgent, said the head of the Latvian Hospital Association Jevgēņijs Kalējs.
He argued that the government’s decision recommended that hospitals limit scheduled services if necessary, rather than requiring services to be restricted immediately, as was the case in the spring.
“Restricting scheduled services can make many patients more urgent than planned,” Calais said, adding that the restrictions will make it harder to receive scheduled services due to longer queues, and the lack of available medical staff cannot be ruled out as doctors continue to become infected. Covid-19.
The head of the association is also concerned about the limited capacity of some hospitals to provide emergency care due to infection of employees. He reminded that a long time ago such a situation had developed in Jūrmala Hospital, and the Maternity Ward of Balvi Hospital has now been closed. Daugavpils, Vidzeme, Jelgava, Liepāja and other hospitals also face similar difficulties.
It is also important to continue and provide services to oncology patients on a schedule, otherwise greater complications are expected.
“The situation is unpredictable,” Kalejs commented, noting that in such circumstances the state has found itself, because the society as a whole does not observe the set restrictions.
It has already been reported that, in anticipation of an increase in the number of patients admitted to Covid-19, scheduled inpatient and inpatient services in all hospitals will be temporarily restricted, the government decided on Tuesday. At the same time, emergency medical care will be provided.
As Anna Strapcāne, a representative of the Ministry of Health, informed LETA, outpatient health care services will not be restricted. As a result, hospitals will be able to adapt to the faster growth in the number of Covid-19 patients, while also providing emergency care to other emergency patients.
Statistics from the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (SPCC) show that the number of people with Covid-19 has increased by 49.8% and the number of inpatients with Covid-19 by a total of 32 compared to the previous week. .6%.
Epidemiologists indicate that approximately 10% to 15% of Covid-19 patients require hospitalization, so it is projected that hospital workloads will continue to increase due to Covid-19 patients. Therefore, inpatient facilities must already be prepared to provide assistance both to Covid-19 patients and to provide acute and emergency care to patients with other conditions.
Until now, decisions on which planned inpatient services to temporarily reduce have been made by the medical institutions themselves. However, in order to increase the readiness of hospitals for the rapid increase in the number of Covid-19 patients, the government decided to stipulate in the Emergency Order that hospitals be obliged to limit inpatient and day care services from 3 December.
The ministry stresses that many health care services will not be interrupted. For example, emergency medical and acute care will continue to be provided, including the necessary examinations and consultations. Outpatient health care services will also be provided in the previous amount, including specialist consultations. Oncological, life-saving, as well as operations, the cancellation of which may result in disability, will also not be canceled.
After December 3, hospitals should continue to provide the following inpatient services: services required to ensure continuity of treatment, chemotherapy, biologics, organ replacement therapy, radiotherapy, inpatient services in hematology, methadone and buprenorphine replacement therapy, and patient care that needs to be continued whether inpatient emergency treatment should be completed. At the same time, invasive cardiology and invasive radiology will have to be provided after December 3.
In turn, acute and emergency medical care, oncological, life-saving, as well as operations, the abolition of which may result in disability and health care services related to the treatment of groups of diseases such as oncology, HIV / AIDS, tuberculosis, psychiatry, contagious skin, will be mandatory. diseases and sexually transmitted diseases.
Traumatology and acute and subacute rehabilitation services will also have to be provided after 3 December for persons for whom the postponement of services may pose a risk of disability or incapacity for work, including children for whom the postponement of rehabilitation services is associated with significant deterioration.
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